From:
Caterina Venturelli
Date: 2002-03-26 09:48:00 UTC
Subject: My ferret refuses to eat, HELP!
Hello there! I have a serious problem here. I thought I could handle it but
definitely after trying many things I can not. My ferret Gigio is an almost
3 years old healthy male ferret, the only one and very, very spoiled. At the
moment and temporary we are living in Connecticut but originally we lived in
Mexico city where there is no good ferret food available so I have only fed
Gigio with kitten food like IAMS and Pro-Plan. When IAMS change one year or
more ago their recepy, Gigio stopped eating it, so basically he ate only
Pro-Plan kitten. When we moved here to the United States I didn't want to
switch to ferret food because by September this year we are coming back to
Mexico and there were no point to use him to a food that he won't have any
more later. I came here with a 4lbs bag of Pro-plan food and I have been
occasionally mixed other brand of kitten food like Chow that I know is not
very nutritious but Gigio really enjoyed the taste (and that is available
in Mexico too). Well, the problem starts when I run out of the Pro-plan food
and go to buy one here at a petstore. Is the same product (also the food I
buy in Mexico is made in USA) except for the batch. Well, Gigio refused to
eat it, I thought that maybe that particulary batch was the problem, so I
bought one with a different "best before" date, I tasted it myself. and it
seems to have the same taste as the old one, but obviously there a slight
difference in the smell. Gigio refused again to eat it. As I had finished my
old bag Gigio was eating more and more of the Chow kitten food which by then
was almost finished too. In my desperation I bought other box of Chow, and
to my surprise Gigio refused to eat this too! This are small dougnuts
shaped kibbles and is incredible how he can tell which comes from the old
box or from the new one, if I mix lets say three of the old ones and five
of the new ones, he can selectively eat just the three of the old box! Now
I am sure is not that there is something wrong with the food but is he that
is not willing to accept even the minor change, which always happen from
batch to batch even when talking of the same brand. Of course I have been
trying with other foods, I have tried with 8 in one ultra blend for ferrets,
and again with IAMS, at the moment I have 5 different brands at home
including two of those he was has been regulary eating and he won't eat any.
I know he is not sick and because of that lacking of appetite, he is
hungry indeed because he comes to call me the way I know he comes to me when
he wants something, he goes to sniff the food but then moves back. If I
offer some of the old food (I have like a couple of dozens of the old pieces
as a control) he immediately eats it. I tried to wait to see if he becomes
hungry before giving him Gerber with dust of kibble that is the only thing
he keeps on accepting no matter what kibble I use to mix with the Gerber (of
course because the Gerber masks whatever he does not like of the new food).
I was thinking to complete the 24 hours before rushing to feed him with
Gerber which is something I would do if I have to but I wouldn't like it to
become his permanent source of food. Any suggestion will be greatly
appreciated. I already tried to put some ferretone on the new food but he
just licks a bit a then goes away, the same if I add some dust of the old
food over the new one or if I mix some pieces of the old food in the new
one, even with tartar control treats that he loves so much, he just picks
the pieces and leaves the rest. Thank you very much I feel really frustated
and worried.
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